NetFlix can still count as one of the four initial purchases that qualify for the 250% bonus, right?

I'm also on board in thinking the bonus is on the miles.

You get 40 mile for every $1 spent in TIB, right from the start. Isn't that more attractively advertised as a 4000% bonus? Just doesn't make sense to push 250% after the 5th purchase when you have bigger bonuses to begin with.

Ty

So, if it's not on miles, is the bonus on the membership fee the first month? Or membership fees paid before the day all transactions have to post? I'm pretty certain that NetFlix will communicate to US who becomes a paying member, not how much they paid.

30 days from date of purchase - get refunded except for shipping charges.

Don't know if this was discussed before, but this sentence in the terms bothers me:

"Transactions must have a posting date between November 23, 2009 and December 30, 2009 to qualify for the offer."

Do you think they mean 'activity' date instead of posting date? It seems so, because they also say:

"The last date activity from a participating partner can be received by US Airways for bonus miles consideration is February 28, 2010, regardless of the eligible activity date."

Any clarifications from anyone who has talked with them?

Thanks!

Is there any further clarification on
1. Bose - ~$3 cord extension
2. Gaiam - $2 tree donation

Do these count or not?

Cheers

Thanks

for another 10,500 miles make sure to do the sentry insurance quote. Initial is 3k, with the bonus it adds up to 10k. Pretty good deal. Combined with the stocks this yields around 20k for almost to nothing. : )

The link I use shows Sentry offering 1,500 miles for a quote -- not 3,000 miles. So the total would be 5,250 miles if you are at the 250% level of this promotion. That, of course, assumes that you don't buy into the latest "theories" on how this promotion will be applied. If you do, your bonus will be 0 since dollars spent at Sentry don't yield any miles.

actually:
To enter, click the link above or call 1-800-373-6879, mention promotion code 10-40-270-1.

* Save up to 10% in addition to Sentry's other money-saving discounts, eligible Dividend Miles members save up to 10% on auto and homeowners insurance
* Get quality insurance protection with Sentry's easy-to-understand policies provide insurance protection that's customized for your family
* And, get 1,500 miles just for receiving a no-obligation quote on your auto or homeowners insurance
* Enter online, call 800-373-6879 and use promotion code 10-40-270-1

This offer is available in: AZ, CO, IL, IN, KS, MN, MO, OH, TN and WI.

so it does yield 1.5k on just to quote, and niec 5k just for a short phone call. : )

This is the relevant portion of the reply that I received from Sharebuilder:

"Thanks for your reply with the promotion code. I was able to review the specifics of that promotion.

As far as ShareBuilder is concerned you can certainly open a new account and enter that promotion. Also, based on the information I have gathered a new custodial account or two would be eligible to receive the bonus miles. Please do review the terms and conditions for more information."

Based on that response, I opened a new IRA, and two custodial accounts. Upon opening each account I received a "congratulations" message that included confirmation that "Your promotion has been accepted. You will receive 3000 bonus miles 4-6 weeks after your first trade." The only risk I see is the possibility that the posting date would not reflect transaction date. I consider that an acceptable risk, though.

i am as confused as anyone, but it does say "You'll get extra Dividend MILes and additional bonuses, up to 250% for every dollar you spend,"

to me that means the dollars you spend at each store. don't know what they are going to do with the stores that give miles for signing up.

after you get to the 5 stores and you keep on shopping up to the 10 stores are all those purchases at the 250% level also?

every agent i speak with has a different take on this promotion. i have never gotten the same answer. they have as many questions about this promotion as we do.

from my understanding of the promotion, the 250% is based on the dollar amount you spend not on the original bonus miles each vendor is offering.
so according to your calculations. the top 6 will get you 123.83x2.5=310 miles. 150 +300= 450 x 2.5=1125 miles. of course add on the original vendor bonuses. but the number unfortunately does not even come close to the amount you calculated.

I hope i am wrong. no one knows which way they are actually going to calculate these miles including USair themselves.

I don't think anyone but you believes that a "250% bonus" somehow equates to 2.5 miles per dollar of the purchase as you are showing in those calculations. You seem to be relying on your interpretation of a single sentence of the promotions page ("You'll get extra Dividend Miles and additional bonuses, up to 250% for every dollar you spend.") to reach this conclusion rather than the plain meaning of the terms and conditions.

I thought the DM Shopping Mile reports miles, and then if US is offering some additional bonus they add it to your account. If that's the case, US is never told the dollar amount in the first place.:confused:

Beckles, you should avoid absolutes; they seldom work. I've previously posted that 250% for every dollar you spend likely means 250% of the dollar value of your purchase, in addition to the miles earned. So, it's not the earlier posters interpretation of a single sentence. NOWHERE in the promotion does it mention a bonus on the MILES earned; it only mentions "every dollar you spend."

Please be considerate of other views. I'm disappointed as well that this is not what it initially appeared, but go ahead and make a large TIB purchase with a 30 day return policy...

To be fair, I think pointsjunkie53 has a few other people in his/her corner. doubled79 has reached the same conclusion, and Evan! seems to be waffling.

I think we can all agree that this is a poorly worded promotion. Depending on how US Airways chooses to interpret its own words:

1. They could only give the 250% bonus on the 5th - 10th partners and not Partner Nos. 1 - 4 if 5 or more partners are used.

2. They could only give bonuses for Partner Nos. 6- 10 if they are different than Partners 1 - 5 and each other rather than giving bonuses for using 5 different partners plus some duplicates.

3. They could treat US Airways Shopping Mall as 1 unique partner or each store in the mall as different partners.

4. They could require all activity to post by December 30 to earn a bonus rather than allow partner activity that occurred during the promo but did not post until after December 30 to count.

5. They could adopt the bonus-for-every-dollar-spent interpretation championed by pointsjunkie53 and doubled79.

For all of those reasons, anyone who is actually thinking of spending large amounts of dollars for throw-away items as a form of quasi-purchase of US Airways miles at a discount is taking a risk. The question then becomes how big of a risk is it, and I don't think anyone really knows.

I agree, many, if not all, merchants would have no reason to report dollar amounts to US. They purchase miles from US and tell them how many miles to put in what accounts.
Quite frankly, I was being considerate of others views, because the interpretation of "250% bonus" being 2.5 miles/dollar is so far out there in my opinion I have much stronger opinions on it than what I've already posted.

With credit to those who have previously pointed this out, for that interpretation to be correct it would mean that in fact one would receive no bonus from 21st Century Insurance or Sentry Insurance since there is no associated dollar amount, you only receive credit for getting a quote. I do not believe that is a reasonable interpretation of the promotion.

Also, the stated term that "Offer excludes any partner sweepstakes offers." would also be unnecessary, but in the context of 250% bonus on mileage it does make sense.

This promotion is a great idea in theory, but the lack of clarity really makes me nervous. My two purchases from 11/29 still havent posted, and usually (at least for the Grand Slam promotion), they posted within a few days. I'm nervous that if I make the trackitback purchase, it wont post in time, and it'll be hundreds for nothing...it seems like US Airways doesnt have a good track record in terms of disputes as well.

Who said TIB has a 30-day return policy? The rep I spoke with told me that they'd take them back longer than that if they were returned unopened and unused.

I'm sorry, but this 2.5 miles per dollar interpretation is nonsense. I doubt that US Air even keeps data on how much you spent for each transaction.

I am certain that your interpretation is incorrect. (And please don't think I am singling you out, pointsjunkie53. Your post just happened to be the one I replied to.)

I know that a lot of you are concerned about interpretations of certain passages of this promo, but I really don't think there is anything to be concerned about. If you don't want to "risk it," sit it out. However, I don't think there is any risk involved, except maybe the risk that a transaction won't post. That's why I (a) have more than 5 transactions, and (b) took screen shots.

I have never seen a perfectly worded promo. There always seems to be something to get fixated upon. When I read this:

it says to me, very clearly, that if a dollar I spent with a participating partner earned 4 DMs, that dollar of spending will earn 10 bonus DMs (a 250% bonus) if I have at least 5 transactions with participating partners.

The reason the bonus is presented as a percentage is because it is a percentage of the miles you earn on the purchase. If US had meant the bonus only to have been on the dollar amount spent, that bonus would have been stated as miles per dollar, not as a percentage, for example:

Stores shopped at:-------Bonus earned:
-------1--------------------.5 miles/dollar
-------2--------------------1 mile/dollar
-------3--------------------1.5 miles/dollar
-------4--------------------2 miles/dollar
-------5--------------------2.5 miles/dollar

More to the point, airlines understand that they induce their FFers to spend with partners by offering lots of bonus miles. Spending with partners means those partners buy miles from them, which is easy revenue. Paying off the bonus miles to members of the program costs the airline very little, if anything.

This is not all that different from Delta's short-lived promotion last year, except US was smart enough not to include transfers from hotel programs and a few other things that did nothing to induce customers to purchase from partners or visit their websites. When Delta realized that it could potentially result in tens of thousands of easy miles--in fact, some FTers did get hundreds of thousands of DL miles--they closed it to further registration. To receive similar bonuses in this promo, one would have to spend hundreds of dollars, and that's what makes it good for US and the participating partners.

i spoke with 3 different Dividend miles employees and got 3 different interpretations. they are soooo confused over there. no wonder we are.

i hope you are right and i am wrong,that would make me much happier.

today 1 person said that we could go on the dividend shopping mall 5 times and it would count as 5 different stores. i spoke to another person 5 minutes later and was told that you can only have 1 visit to the mall and would count as 1 store.:confused:

1 person said the 250% is based on the miles and another said it was based on the dollars spent.:confused:

1 person said that once you get to the 5 stores all purchases will be at 250% and any stores after the 5 (6-10) would also be at the 250%. but the looming question is 250% of what dollars or miles earned????:confused:

As a general rule, I don't care what any CSR on the phone says when it comes to a promotion like this. When I say "general rule", I'm talking about all promotions from all airlines, hotels, car rental companies, etc., that is not a US specific comment.

I don't for one second believe that a company's CSR's better understand the rules than the folks here on Flyertalk, and again, that goes for all promotions from all companies, not just US.

But let's be fair: In the history of FT, have we ever seen a promo where FTers came in and said, "Wow, that promo is worded as clear as day!" :D

Mike

Since I think everyone agrees on one point - the bonus will be in given in miles and not dollars - wouldn't US have had to establish a miles/dollar criteria that applied to all merchants for purposes of calculating the bonus, as Flying Buccaneer said? I haven't read all the terms of this promo but no one has shown where US did that. So as far as I'm concerned, the bonus has to be based on the mile earned from the merchant "for every dollar you spend".

If indeed US awards the bonus on some arbitrary number of miles per dollar spent regardless of merchant without revealing that criteria, I would think a small claims case would be a slam dunk.

Jim

Inexpensive way to get two purchases under 250% bonus
 

As usual this board has inspired me to join in on a promotion I was previously going to pass on. I think I have come across a fairly cheap way to get two credits, but wanted to run it by folks to make sure I am correct.

First, purchase a $10 Restaurant.com gift cert under the current promotion which ends tonight. Order the gift cert Through Thanks Again.
With the promotional discount my out of pocket is $1.20.

Second, when I receive my Red Envelope $15 gift cert code in the mail I then go to Dividend Miles shopping mall to make a purchase.

However, here is where I am unsure of how it would work. Do I have to actually spend at least $1 on a credit card or other or do I get miles for my purchase even if the Gift code covers all of the purchase?

I have done one purchase where I did actually come out of pocket $3.52. The other purchase, on another account, did not require any out of pocket cost, but was a "purchase" of an item.

Interested in your thoughts.

Even with the minimal out of pocket I now have a $10 gift cert and a money clip for an out of pocket cost of $4.72 plus I now have 2 credits of the 5 needed for the 250% bonus.

I had some reservations early on about what the 250% meant, but I think the theory that it means an additional 2.5 miles per dollar spent is pretty crackers.

Looking at the grammar used, I believe that alarm is caused by a typo. The sentence at issue reads "You'll get extra Dividend Miles and additional bonuses, up to 250% for ever dollar you spend." FWIW, I think the sentence was meant to read: "You'll get extra Dividend Miles and additional bonuses, up to 250%, for ever dollar you spend." The sentence only makes sense if the phrase "up to 250%" modifies the preceding clause "You'll get extra Dividend Miles and additional bonuses" rather than the following phrase "for every dollar you spend." You can trust me, I was an English major! ;)

Okay English major... "for ever dollar you spend" ??? :D :p

Looks like typos are contagious. :eek:

I received a response from DM:

Your new promotion, "Shop your way to a bigger bonus," says to order
from 5 UNIQUE partners to maximize bonus miles. The Dividend Miles
Shopping Mall is listed in the promotion. If I shop from 5 stores at the
Dividend Miles Shopping Mall will that be considered 5 unique partners?
Or 1 unique partner?

Thank you for contacting US Airways. Yes, you can shop at 5 unique stores under the Dividend Miles Shopping Mall.

Dang. :o

Not to be picky, but that's not really a ringing enorsement that 5 different stores within the mall will be counted as 5 unique partners for this promotion. It's sounds more like a canned response from a CSR that is stating that there are actually 5 different stores within the US Airways mall.

guys cool it off.
US Air said For ever dollar you spend, meaning that if you fulfill the promotion minimums they will FOREVER apply 250% to every mileage posting. :)

maaan I wish they hired someone smart to write that promotion better. This is what happens when an engineer writes that and not an english major guy.

whoops.
This would be sufficient enough to show that when you dispute the charges with AMEX. Simple and plain they will side with you on this one.

Omigod, I'm so freaked out now, does that per dollar language mean I won't get any bonus at all if I used a card that bills in Euros? :p :D

No offense, but the 250% bonus on $ spent panic is unfounded. These promos always have poorly worded terms and conditions, and there is some merit to discussing "what ifs," but this particular argument is ludicrous. That's just not how these bonus offers work, period. Frankly, when I first read the "spend two grand on TIB, get 5000 bonus miles" argument, I thought the trolls had arrived.

Clearly, we all have different risk tolerance, so if this is too risky for you, save yourself some stress and buy/share miles. Your miles will cost a bit more, but you'll be able to sleep. (I personally am very comfortable with this offer, having in the past ordered thousands of photo prints from Shutterfly, bought hundreds of items from various online flower retailers, subscribed to hundreds of magazines, and rented over 1000 cars I didn't need, all in the pursuit of cheap miles).

I too think that the interpretation of 2.5 miles / dollar makes no sense. US Airways doesn't even know how much money you spent. They only the activity date, posting date, description, and number of miles you got from a particular partner..

I said that. And I was reading off their website FAQ #14:

"14. What is your return policy?
Any unused product can be returned to TrackItBack within 30 days from the purchase date for a full refund, not including shipping and handling charges. Any Dividend Miles that have been awarded will be removed from your Dividend Miles account."
http://www.trackitback.com/US/faqs.html

I agree. In general, CSRs don't know anything other than the common cases (if anything!). They certainly won't know about the details of some random promotion. It's kinda sad, cuz you'd think it's in the company's interest to be clear about things. It would save them CS time and more people would use the promotion (if it's genuinely a good one)..

Oh come on... This might be what happens when you get a RETARDED engineer to write it.. In my experience, engineers are actually very meticulous about things like these..

I'll trust you English skills, but I don't trust theirs. :)

I have tried some of the shops people on here have been using (e.g. donating a tree through GAIAM) but a lot require your billing address to be US. Could someone help me to get the cheapest possible purchases for someone with a UK address? :)

So far have:
lego.com - LEGO brick erasers £1.95
Barnes and Noble - Silent witness eBook $1.99 (disallowed.. won't allow non US billing address)
Sears - $5 eGift card
Omaha steaks - $5 eGift card

For GAIAM and restaurant.com, you can just give it a bogus address (well I'm not sure if it'll get bothered when you go to pay), but neither is delivering anything to you.

You could get creative and use US Airways' address:
4000 E. Sky Harbor Blvd.
Phoenix, AZ 85034
USA

Maybe even address it to "Douglas Parker". He'll no doubt enjoy the catalogs from Skymall and others where he can earn lots of US Airways miles.... :p

Do you know if buying an eBook from B&N for LESS than $1 will give miles?

I remember paying 99 cents for an eBook during Grand Slam and getting 2 miles (they advertise 3 / dollar)... This time I went a bit lower and only paid 88 cents.. Anyone done something similar and seen the miles post?

Thanks for the info vysean. Went to GAIAM and it requires US billing address. Signed up to ThanksAgain and got $10 gift card with promo for $1.20 but upon checkout it won't let me have anything but a US billing address :(

ThanksAgain will let you checkout and pay using Paypal. Surely you can have a non-US address with Paypal?

How do I do this. The only option I get is to pay directly through restaurant.com website. Would it work if I paid through paypal as it would not be able to see it as coming from that card???